eye-catching

"This fish is not enough to fit my king's teeth!"

The third-rate prince complained that the fish was too small, and at the same time called Yuan Qi from outside.

"My lord, according to what you said, you burned the fish!"

Yuan Qi bent over while wiping his sweat.It can be seen that in order to cook this fish, he must have put a lot of thought into picking out all the fish bones inside.

The prince frowned, put down his chopsticks, and asked with an inexplicable light in his eyes, "Is this the fish I teased this morning?"

"That's right!" Yuan Qi said with a smile on his face, "Look, the bird and the dog saw it with their own eyes!"

The prince's expression remained unchanged, and he said again: "Is it the one I put in the pot?"

"Isn't that right, the maids are all looking for a new pot for you!"

The prince's face was slightly distorted, and he said again: "Is it the pot that I pee in every night?"

"That's right! That dog peed there too—"

Yuan Qi seemed to realize something, and quickly knelt down before the lord changed his face: "My lord! The slave is guilty!"

The third-rate prince dropped his chopsticks, slapped the table, stood up, and cursed: "Idiot! How dare you feed me fish soaked in urine! I'll kill you!"

As he said, he went forward and grabbed Yuan Qi's front collar, and the moment he started, he stopped suddenly.

Yuan Qidu was already ready to die, but his eyes were closed for several seconds, but there was no movement. He opened his eyes tremblingly——

I saw the prince stopped at a short distance from him, watching him silent, as if he was frozen.

What's going on here?

Yuan Qi called him: "My lord..."

"That old thing..."

The prince murmured, let go of Yuan Qi immediately, then slowly sat back on the chair, and continued to eat the fish.

"My lord..." Yuan Qi wanted to stop him, but remembered that he was afraid that the lord would blame him, so he simply stood in the distance and did not move.

Looking demented, could it be that he is bewitched?

Yuan Qi was thinking about the possibility in his heart. At this time, the prince said lightly: "Go to Yangzhou to investigate the case after preparing meals."

"Hey..." Yuan Qi did not hesitate, and replied, "Okay!"

The case of the disappearance of ten people happened when the scholars from all walks of life disappeared when they rushed to the provincial capital to participate in the autumn. At that time, ten people suddenly disappeared, and they were from different regions, so it was very difficult to deal with.

Two people from Yangzhou, four people from Jingzhou, two people from Tongzhou, one person from Yuhang, and one person from Gusu. This investigation will take several months. I really don’t know how these local officials do things. It seems that their salaries have to be reduced. .

The third-rate prince was sitting on the horse, looking at the notes brought by the officials.

This is the first time he has seen each person's information. It has everyone's name and birthplace on it, and some even have portraits. I have to say that although the information is complete, it is useless at all.

"What, these things are useless at all."

The person who was speaking next to him was the old emperor's literary attendant, named Lin Xie, who was deeply loved by the old emperor. Although he didn't ask about any political affairs, he reached this position at a young age thanks to his cleverness.This time the old emperor sent him to follow, which obviously meant something else.

The prince squinted at him: "If it's useful, will it be your turn?"

Lin Xie chuckled: "My lord, we have to go to the local area to investigate the case. Where is the missing place? Only then can we get clues. Otherwise, it would be impossible to solve the case by relying on these things on paper."

The prince leaned back, obviously not wanting to take him seriously.It's just a celebrity around the old emperor, even if the prince doesn't like him, what can he do?Go to the emperor and say a few words about him, maybe that old thing will scold him too!

Lin Xie carefully studied the large volume of documents, rubbed his chin with his right hand that had not yet grown a beard, and muttered: "These men are all very handsome."

"It's not like those who rely on lip service."

The prince satirized beside him, but Lin Xie didn't care. He knew that no matter how popular he was, he couldn't offend this third-rate prince, otherwise he wouldn't know how he died.

"My lord, among these people, there is nothing in common. Let's talk about family background. Some are extremely poor, and some are extremely rich. Look at this Liu Shan, his father is one of the richest in Gusu City. Landlord, but look at Zhang Fu from Yuhang, he doesn’t even know who his parents are.”

The prince closed his eyes to rest, and said a word: "So?"

Lin Xie nodded, and said: "These people are not very old, and their family situations are also different, but all these people with portraits have one thing in common——

They are all handsome boys. "

When the prince heard this, he nodded, but he still didn't open his eyes, and replied lazily, "Yes."

"It's usually the bandits there who kidnap a good-looking girl to become Mrs. Yazhai, but this is the first time I've heard of a good-looking man."

Lin Xie paused, and said, "I'm afraid Jie did something."

"What did you do?"

Lin Xie couldn't answer the prince's question, and said, "We just want to investigate this."

"cut--"

The prince made this short sound, his sarcasm was undisguised.

The long journey is very tiring, after all, the third-rate prince does not admit that he has passed the time of being vigorous and handsome, but even if he is allowed to ride for a whole day, he will almost lose his composure.

"Yuan Qi!"

The prince stopped Yuan Qi, who was driving the car, and then he quickly opened the curtain and asked, "What's the matter, my lord?"

"I'm not leaving today, I'm looking for a place to live!"

The person who received the prince and his party was the local magistrate, Mr. Wang Wenchang.As soon as this lord heard that the lord was coming to live here temporarily, the whole mansion started working on their salaries a few days in advance, and quickly cleaned up the entire mansion, even scraping the moss on the stone steps. If you go, you are afraid that the prince will accidentally slip and fall, and if you bump into it, it will be miserable.

When the princes came over, they all lowered their heads and smiled, fearing that anything that didn't suit the wishes of this third-rate prince would be finished.

When the prince brought Lin Xie and Yuan Qi in, his eyes showed disdain. He couldn't bear the sight of an official who built such a large mansion with a little salary from the court. Just fit a bird and a dog!

After arranging the accommodation, Lin Xie hurried out to inquire about the situation, while the prince sat on the pear flower wooden chair, drinking tea and watching Yuan Qi playing with the bird that Wang Wenchang sent over.

Mr. Wang knew that the prince had these two hobbies, playing with birds and dogs, and it was not easy to bring a dog here. He was afraid that the prince would make a mistake, so he sent someone to find a good-looking bird early.

Yuan Qi teased and said: "This bird is really human, and it will gently peck my finger!"

The prince glanced lightly: "That's why it treats you like a beast."

"My lord..." Yuan Qi knew that his lord had a poisonous tongue, so he had nowhere to complain.

"Hmph! That old thing is probably going to use his good people's plan again while the king is away!" The prince's nose was itchy, he wiped it with his cuff, and continued, "Holding those memorials all day long, I see his harem." Those concubines here don't bother to put on rouge anymore, they are as ugly as ghosts!"

Yuan Qi smiled cheerfully, and said, "My lord is thinking of the emperor."

"Fart!" The prince stood up suddenly, glaring, "Aren't you tired of being stupid?!"

"Ouch!"

Yuan Qi was kicked by the prince, and quickly knelt down holding the birdcage, but he didn't want the bird cage door to open, and the bird flew out and landed quietly on the prince's left shoulder.

The prince didn't notice it, he was still reprimanding Yuan Qi, his beard was so angry that it was all up.

Yuan Qi watched the bird quietly resting on the prince's shoulder, interrupted him and said, "My prince, look at your shoulder."

Only then did the prince turn his head to look at the bird on his shoulder, and suddenly he smiled happily again: "This bird is quite human!"

"Isn't it treating you like a beast?"

As soon as Yuan Qi said this, he was immediately thrown out of the mansion.

Lin Xie, who was about to enter the mansion, saw Yuan Qi rolling out, with a look of surprise, and said, "Brother Yuan Qi, what are you doing?"

Yuan Qi's nose was bruised and his face was swollen from the fall, he raised his head and smiled at Lin Xie, and said, "My lord is in a bad mood."

Lin Xie quickly helped him up, and seeing the smiling prince after entering the mansion, he couldn't help wondering where Yuan Qi had offended the prince.

Lin Xie patted his robe, and walked towards the bird-teasing prince.

"My lord, there are new clues!"

The bird-teasing prince glanced at him and ignored him.

Yuan Qi whispered to Lin Xie from the side: "It seems that he is not as human as that bird."

"what?"

Lin Xie didn't know what the master and servant were playing, so she opened her mouth:

"There is an inn nearby. The owner said that several men who were rushing to take the exam stayed here. Because three of them were handsome, she remembered it clearly. I asked, and they stayed here about three or four months ago. Left after two nights."

"and then?"

Yuan Qi asked a question for the prince who got carried away with teasing the bird.

"However, it is recorded in the volume that only two men from Yangzhou are missing, so as long as you find the fellow scholars, you can find out how they disappeared."

At this time, the prince suddenly said: "Since they know how they disappeared, and they are not idiots, they naturally know that they have reported to the government, and they are still waiting for you to ask?"

"I'm afraid I'm being coerced, so I can't speak."

Lin Xie conjectured in his mind, and said, "The person has been missing for three months, but the case was reported a month ago. It can be understood that he went to participate in Qiuwei, so he didn't know that he was missing, but after so long, the people around him None of the companions noticed that it was abnormal, and they did not travel alone.

"Since Qiu Wei didn't even participate, naturally the invigilator at that time found out. Why didn't they report the case? I think there are two possibilities. One is that the person who robbed them had something to do. They dare not report the crime; the other is that they themselves said where they were going."

The prince stroked the bird, stroking its feathers, and said: "The handle? So you have not only held the handle of the invigilator, but also the handle of all the colleagues around them? Are you also holding the handle of the local officials and the government office?" , so it was too late to find out?"

He suddenly smiled, looked at Lin Xie, and said, "Then tell me, is the murderer the Emperor?"

"My lord is guilty!"

Lin Xie suddenly knelt down and fell on the ground, his face turned pale.

The prince glanced at Yuan Qi who was still standing, and cursed: "What are you doing standing up! Kneel down! Are you trying to make fun of servant Lin!"

Yuan Qi quickly knelt down, this man was not smart, but his reaction was still quick.

"This king will think about your reasoning carefully. I think what you said is reasonable, but the emperor may not have time to do this. He misses his people all day long, and he can't even eat."

The prince was holding his bird and was about to leave, "Go and rest, I'm tired today."

"Yes!"

"Eh!"